Rosenblatt Securities Upgrades Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) to Buy

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has $1,494.00 target price on the Internet television network’s stock, up from their prior target price of $680.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on NFLX. Seaport Res Ptn raised Netflix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Netflix from $820.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Netflix from $1,010.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Netflix from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Netflix from $825.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Netflix presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,009.29.

Netflix Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:NFLX opened at $977.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $417.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.27. Netflix has a twelve month low of $542.01 and a twelve month high of $999.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $892.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $764.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The Internet television network reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.20 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $10.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10,141,900 billion. Netflix had a return on equity of 38.32% and a net margin of 22.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.11 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Netflix will post 23.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 48,363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.60, for a total transaction of $43,362,265.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 114 shares in the company, valued at $102,212.40. This represents a 99.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $979.71, for a total value of $604,481.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 147,117 shares of company stock worth $123,913,691. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Netflix

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. DigitalBridge Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Netflix by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 36,063 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $24,338,000 after buying an additional 9,451 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Netflix by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 848,150 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $760,918,000 after buying an additional 156,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Netflix by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,579,404 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $1,829,494,000 after purchasing an additional 29,726 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Netflix by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 612,458 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $434,398,000 after purchasing an additional 11,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Netflix by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 41,946 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $29,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and games across various genres and languages. The company also provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, TV set-top boxes, and mobile devices.